A 37-year-old man, said to be mentally deranged, and whose name MMI got as Ekwin Wilfred is wandering at Douala Central Prison (New Bell), where he has been detained since May 6, 2023, for working with Ambazonia separatists in the South West Region of Cameroon.
He was arrested in Buea a week before being taken to New Bell, and accused of “killing and complicity with Ambazonia fighters.”
A source who spoke to MMI from New Bell Prison said Wilfred is “very unstable”, from all indications, and has been unable to help investigators and prison authorities contact his family.
Ekwin Wilfred’s condition is dire, the source said, as he has no lawyer, no family member to visit him, no food to eat and no clothes to wear in prison.
“Since the guy went there to the Douala Central Prison, since he’s not stable, for feeding, it’s very difficult to feed himself; he defecates on his body. And the few people there who have been accused of the same crimes, they have really been struggling to feed this guy who is not mentally stable, but the funny thing is that to get to his family is very difficult. The guy cannot answer any small question that they ask him and is very dirty,” a source at New Prison told MMI on condition of anonymity.
The source who has ample knowledge on the Wilfred’s case, said the 37-year-old is facing four charges: complicity to terrorism, hostility against the state, killing, and non-possession of national identification documents.
The source said his case is before the Douala Military Court, although there is no lawyer to defend him.“When they brought them to Douala, he spent almost a week in the hands of the police judicial in Douala. Later now they did investigations on him, but all the people that they were locked up together they said that the guy is really mad
. Even the police people, they concluded that he is mad, but they cannot release him. So after a week there, he was sent to the Douala Central Prison, that was on the 6th of May 2023,” our source said.
He said the prison authorities want to establish contact with parents or relatives of Ekwin Wilfred.
Information gathered from him indicates that he was born in Kupe Muanenguba Division of the South-west Region to Ekwin Maurice and Ekwin Matta.
He was living in Molyko, Buea, at the
time of his arrest. Our source said he speaks very good English.
